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Traveling In Style – DIY Vintage Book Grid-It

Did you see this project featured on Lifehacker last year? A Grid-It lets you store your odds and ends when you travel so they don’t rattle around in the bottom of your pack. The minute I saw it, I knew I had to try it out. The catch: I’m a bibliophile. I love books, especially old books, and the thought of butchering a poor helpless tome with an X-acto knife makes me cringe. I’m also an absentminded bibliophile, though, and had managed to buy 2 of the exact same used copy of The Silmarillion. I sacrificed one for the sake of making a kick-ass present, and saved the guts in order to learn how to book bind (I’ll give you a new home one day, my precioussss…)

I made one modification to the original tutorial from Design*Sponge: I couldn’t find any black rubberized fabric, so I used regular black fabric instead. A few coats of Mod Podge stiffened it up nicely, and allowed me to attach a map of Middle-Earth, in case its new owner ever gets lost.

It’s well worth the effort. If I can ever bring myself to cut up a book again, I’m definitely making one to keep.

I feel your pain. I had two used copies of the same edition, one of which was coming loose at the spine. Don’t worry, after I repurposed the cover I kept the book itself and will eventually give it a new lease on life. I’m thinking of a stylized Sauron for the new cover…

Well, if it is being rebound, then that`s even better than just maintaining how it was. That means it can be used and loved better than when the cover was falling off, so this makes sense. I like the end result either way, I just wasn`t sure I liked how you got there. And now that I know better, I think it`s great all around!

I love recycling and repurposing when possible… this project turned something that wasn’t being used into two bookish presents (1 1/2 for now until I make a new cover)… and the story stays intact :) Glad you liked it!